Britain have the Germans worried

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EYES will turn Great Britain’s way as the largest and best-prepared national squad — 55 swimmers and 23 staff — to represent the nation arrives on the poolside for the start of the four-day European Short-course Championships this morning.

Better still, those eyes are German. Europe’s swimming superpower has spent the past 30 years and more rarely having to glance sideways across the lanes. So when the white-haired and long-in-the-tooth Ralf Beckmann, Germany’s team manager, says that he expects “a massive onslaught of Brits” in Dublin, Britain can take heart that it is on the cusp of a promotion to